Mythic Creatures

Bad Dad and Iris are here for Spring Break.  Our year of the dragon baby wanted to see the Mythic Creatures exhibit at the Denver Museum of Science and Nature (formerly the Museum of Natural History).

I managed to find needlework there.

Bye for now!

Simplicity 1199

After I made a Vogue 8175 top from scraps leftover from making the Kwik Sew 1139 PJ pants, I still couldn't bear to throw the scraps away.  I pawed through my patterns to see if I could eke out a top for Iris out of the remainder.

I paired it with yet another thrifted organic cotton T.  This one advertised alcohol, which would be inappropriate for a teen.  Fortunately, the shirt was large and my daughter is XS, so I was able to cut around the advertising.

I like the longer tail in the back

and the princess seaming.

I fused tricot to the shoulders on both the F and B sides and also stitched them with a straight stitch for stability. I like to press and sew the seam allowances of the shoulder down flat. I find it less irritating to sensitive skin. I topstitched with a straight stitch at the shoulders and a slight (0.9 mm wide) zigzag elsewhere.

The topstitching is a bit uneven.

On Pattern Review, one reviewer dissed the pattern because it bunched up at the underarm.  I didn't read the instructions, but I suspect that they did not explicitly explain the importance of clipping curves.  I stitched the seam with a narrow zigzag and made two tiny clips at the underarm.

Another reviewer said it was impossible to sew the side seam with a serger due to the side slit.  I sewed to the slit opening and back-tacked.  Then I clipped the seam above the end of stitching and serged from the underarm to the bottom clip.  After serging around the slit opening and hem, I topstitched the whole thing down flat.  Just to show off, I mitered the corners, too.

It is possible to get flat and even results; there is nothing wrong with the pattern.

I sewed an XS-S, which is the size corresponding to Iris' measurements. It's a bit tight on my dress dummy and my body, but we are a size M. This is an oversized top and you can probably go down one size for a closer, but not tight, fit.

Note to self:
It fits.  It looks cute.  It provides the perfect amount of back coverage.   She refused to model it for the blog.  She wants the sleeves lengthened 2" next time.

Wordless Wednesday